


PidgeQuest

by psiten



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Video Game Mechanics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 14:38:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8536975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psiten/pseuds/psiten
Summary: KEITH: Hey, PIDGE.PIDGE: Hey, yourself. What's up?KEITH: ... It's nothing.
Initiate analysis.Input statement: "It's nothing."Run comparison based on behavior and appearance... running...Analysis complete. Input statement is FALSE. Situation involving KEITH is not "nothing". Processing time: 0.7 milliseconds.Proceed to care? (Y/N)
Y.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [squirenonny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/squirenonny/gifts).



> After seeing the adorable computer command-line style narration elements for Pidge in Volume 4 of the Voltron: Legendary Defender comics, I was inspired to try doing a full-on mix of command prompt executables and text-based video game narration for this discussion with Keith. I know the style is a little non-traditional, but I hope you like it!

PIDGE is currently located on the Castle of Lions, in her laboratory, where she is working on reverse engineering scavenged Galra technology. To the NORTH (inasmuch as "North" represents, from the perspective of curved galactic space, a direction designated by miniscule tendencies in spacetime to compress as to the polar region on a multidimensional globe rather than to expand, which tendency denoted the direction she had arbitrarily assigned as "South" -- and given that their spaceship castle was as mobile as a boat on the seas of old, her door could change from being North or South to being East or West, or being Up or Down, or really being anywhere but Before or After, but for the moment, it was NORTH), a portal hisses open. Light footsteps enter the laboratory.

PIDGE:\Function\Run identify.exe ...  
Loading Identifying Characteristics Array: working.  
Task complete.

Identifying Characteristics:  
Build - medium height, ectomorphic  
Jacket - short, red, yellow stripe

Probable Identity: KEITH.  
Confirm hair: Black, mullet.  
Identity confirmed: KEITH. Processing time: 0.2 milliseconds

KEITH enters from the NORTH. He appears to be having an emotion. Symptoms include biting his lip, heavy sighing, and eyes cast down at an angle that is approximately five degrees lower than normal. Conclusion: KEITH is troubled. Processing time: 1.6 seconds.

Automatic System Process activating...  
PIDGE:\System State\Feelings\empathy.dll

He speaks.

> KEITH: Hey, PIDGE.  
> PIDGE: Hey, yourself. What's up?  
> KEITH: ... It's nothing.

Initiate analysis.  
Input statement: "It's nothing."  
Run comparison based on behavior and appearance... running...  
Analysis complete. Input statement is FALSE. Situation involving KEITH is not "nothing". Processing time: 0.7 milliseconds.

Proceed to care? (Y/N)

Y.

The decision to care is not one she can, in fact, set aside anymore. PIDGE feels a tightness in her throat. When she first entered the Garrison, she used to think that feeling empathy was inconvenient, that interest in fellow cadets was a distraction, and it kept her from finding her father and brother, but things are different now. The Paladins of Voltron are her family, too, in their own way. She turns off the power to her current project so she can give KEITH her full attention.

> PIDGE: You're not fooling anyone, KEITH. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I'm here if you do want to talk.  
> KEITH: Thanks. I guess I'm a little on edge. I wanted to go down to the training deck to work through it, but... SHIRO's down there right now.  
> PIDGE: So? What's wrong with SHIRO?  
> KEITH: Nothing's _wrong_ with SHIRO! That's just not something I can do right now!

Detecting intense emphasis. Initiate emergency emotion check on KEITH.

PIDGE:\Function\Run ReadAtmo.exe...  
Loading Emotional Indicators array: working.  
Task complete.

Emotional Indicators:  
Stance - wider than baseline, 16%  
Spine - rigid, pitched forward  
Hands - clenched in fists  
Eyebrows - furrowed

Emotion: Defensive, probability 87%.  
Condition: Severe, far outside of KEITH's standard operating parameters. Processing time: 0.8 seconds.

Initiate de-escalation procedures.

PIDGE puts her hands forward, indicating so-called surrender. Positive result: KEITH's shoulders relax.

> PIDGE: Okay, okay. No one's going to make you go anywhere, unless another Robeast shows up and we have to form Voltron. As long as you're here, do you want to help me hack into the Galra system we scavenged from that last fire fight?  
> KEITH: I don't think that's a good idea. Who knows what I'd make it do? I mean, look at me... I'm one of _them_!

Automatic System Process activating...  
PIDGE:\Function\Analysis\context.dll  
Assessing commonality between (Object:"Salvaged Technology" ++ Person:KEITH ++ Person:SHIRO)... working.  
Analysis complete: Context of "them" is GALRA, probability 100%. Assessment: Stupid, and irrelevant to function of salvaged technology. Processing time 0.3 milliseconds.

> PIDGE: Okay, so you're purple sometimes. So what?! I mean, sure, I had to update a few things to wipe skin tone out of my identification metrics for you since--  
> KEITH: Wait. Your _what_? Identification metrics?  
>  PIDGE: No getting off topic! The point is, you didn't stop being you just because you started being purple sometimes or because one of your parents had big fuzzy ears. At no point when we thought you were 100% human did you cause technology to go haywire. It stands to reason that you won't make the machines fly off the handle now. So I repeat... So what if you're purple?

KEITH stands still and says nothing. He appears to be pouting.  
Access emotion check. ReadAtmo.exe is already running.

Emotion: Undefined KEITH state #56.  
Condition: Normal. Processing time <0.1 milliseconds.

> PIDGE: You already know you won't mess up the machines, don't you.  
> KEITH: Yeah, I do. It's kind of obvious.  
> PIDGE: So this is still about SHIRO, isn't it.  
> KEITH: All I said was that I didn't want to train with him right now. Not everything is about SHIRO!  
> PIDGE: But this is. I'm not going to give you a pep talk or tell you to go down to the training deck, so you may as well admit the thing that I know you know I know is true.  
> KEITH: ... yeah. I mean... you're right. I guess it is about SHIRO.  
> PIDGE: Now we're getting somewhere!

To the EAST, KEITH retrieves a chair, and sits near PIDGE. In keeping with prior observations, he avoids eye contact and keeps his back to the wall. Established parameters for interaction indicate that PIDGE should reciprocate avoidance of eye contact, because watching him closely makes KEITH get fidgety.

Initiate crud cleanup on Object:"Salvaged Technology", low priority. Disable verbose logging.

KEITH sighs. PIDGE anticipates an explanation in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

> KEITH: I don't know why I came down here. I guess I know if I talk to HUNK, he'll say SHIRO wouldn't care about... _this_...  
>  PIDGE: I'm not exactly an expert on emotions, but I'm pretty sure you'll be less prone to bouts of self-loathing if you can learn to use specific, accurate words. Being part Galra is in your genetic code, so you should get used to it.  
> KEITH: Gee, thanks.

Sarcasm detected. Ignore? (Y/N)

Y.

> PIDGE: Anytime.  
> KEITH: So HUNK is too nice, LANCE doesn't even understand why the ... Galra... _thing_ would matter, ALLURA's too careful and I can't read what she's really thinking for beans, and... Well, you know how CORAN is.  
>  PIDGE: Practically perfect in every way?  
> KEITH: So you get the idea. I can't talk to any of them about it. They all... keep trying to make me _feel better_.  
>  PIDGE: Uh-huh. _I see_.  
>  KEITH: But you're different. You're not nice.  
> PIDGE: That's true.

Extended non-verbal noise from KEITH most likely indicates frustration. Hypothesis confirmed by KEITH executing a double-facepalm, restricting his visibility range to approximately 0%. Toss what PIDGE has determined to be an Altean packing peanut at his head? (Y/N)

N.

In an act of extreme empathy, PIDGE refrains from tossing a packing peanut at KEITH. He would almost certainly (probability 97%) take this as a sign that PIDGE is not being serious, which is untrue. PIDGE is always serious, especially when it comes to her friends having inexplicable emotional turmoil, which luckily they don't do often. Her friends are remarkably stable, which she hypothesizes indicates that she has a finely honed Friend Selection Criteria Matrix. Eventually, KEITH looks up. This time, he looks at her instead of the door.

Pause crud cleanup on Object:"Salvaged Technology".

PIDGE notes for her files on KEITH's intermittent Galra transformation issue that his eyes are yellow today.

> KEITH: So, what? Am I supposed to just overlook how SHIRO's neck twitches for a second when he sees me like this? I know he can put on a strong face, and treat me like I'm still part of the team--  
> PIDGE: For the record, you _are_ still part of the team. Red didn't reject you.  
>  KEITH: I know. I know that. But seeing me _hurts SHIRO_ , and I can't even say he's wrong. You know what the Galra put him through.  
> PIDGE: So let me get this straight. You wanted to talk to me instead of anybody else because you think I'm going to tell you SHIRO hates you? Dude. He doesn't _hate_ you. He's traumatized. That's not about you.  
>  KEITH: Yeah, I know!  
> PIDGE: So stop being a baby! Go forth and train, young Mullet! I bet SHIRO would appreciate having a sparring partner again who doesn't have Altean super strength. If I were sparring with Allura and Coran every day, I'd have an inferiority complex by now.  
> KEITH: I'm actually older than you.

Error: Non-sequitir detected. Unable to process. Execute prompt for clarification? (Y/N)

Y.

> PIDGE: What?  
> KEITH: You called me "Young Mullet". I'm older than you. I think...  
> PIDGE: Irrelevant to the point.  
> KEITH: Is it so wrong that I want to _not_ inflict pain on a... a friend and teammate every time he looks at me?! Because for the record, I do. Probably nobody else will admit that's what I do, but you will. And I don't like it. But I don't want to ask SHIRO to deal with me when the sight of me looking like a... a--

KEITH seems to be at a loss to describe his current appearance. Several adjectives may apply. Input suggestion to continue.

> PIDGE: Purple kitty monster?  
> KEITH: -- _like a Galra_... makes him flinch. I know this isn't about me, but it still hurts when he looks at me that way. I wish there were a way to tear the Galra half of myself out forever.  
>  PIDGE: Well, tough. You can't.

Explanation available: scientific reasons why removing "Galra half" would be impossible and/or undesirable. Detail: the non-viability of an organism when 50% of its DNA is missing.  
Access emotion check. ReadAtmo.exe is already running.

Emotion: Woobie.  
Condition: Above Normal. Processing time: 20.6 milliseconds.

PIDGE decides that now is not the time for a detailed thesis on DNA editing. KEITH clearly didn't mean what he said in a scientific sense. The facts, however, still apply.

> PIDGE: Look, KEITH. I know you know you're gonna have to suck it up. SHIRO's bound to have some trigger issues when you're walking around looking like a smaller, cuter version of the furry purple people-eaters--  
> KEITH: The Galra don't eat people, they just enslave them.  
> PIDGE: And the one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater wasn't actually purple, he just ate purple people! You're missing the point, which is that SHIRO's not avoiding you even though he's the one who's dealing with the psychological trigger of you sometimes looking like the imperialistic aliens who subjected him to year of torture, gladiatorial battles, and medical experimentation. So suck it up. Swallow your manpain, and go train with him already, because the sooner you start doing that, the sooner you'll both re-normalize your interactions and you can go back to talking to each other like healthy human beings. Don't think I haven't noticed all the awkward silences during meal times.  
> KEITH: ... You're probably right. Thanks, PIDGE.  
> PIDGE: It's what I do.

Resuming his usual calm demeanor, KEITH rises from the chair, which is now to the SOUTH due to the rotation of the Castle of Lions, and departs via the door, which is now to the EAST.

Interaction clear! Gain 750 XP.

PIDGE:\Function\end ReadAtmo.exe  
Operation complete. Dedicated mental capacity returned to general pool.

At her table, PIDGE resumes testing her equipment while humming a happy tune. Her friend duties have been faithfully executed. She may deserve cake.


End file.
